[acery]

I brought my vehicle to my indie mechanic to have him check out a wheel balance/alignment issue. After he had the car up in the air, he noticed that the inner boot of the right axle was leaking grease and he also noticed a fresh scratch on the axle itself. He told me he had no clue how something could get in there to do what it did.

I need four new tires and the axle replaced because MB doesn't make boot kits. 950 for the axle + four tires (the car does need them). With labor, I'm looking at 1950 + tax.

I picked up the vehicle in hopes that the dealer will cover the cost of the axle as the car is still under warranty.

If the damage is caused by an outside force (i don't recall hitting anything that made me think "uh oh.") and they make that to be the cause of the problem, am I screwed?

 

[Black04C230]

If the problem was due to parts failing, they will be covered. If the problem was caused by someone hitting something, which caused parts to fail, it will not be covered. The scratch on the axle is going to be your problem when you take it to the dealer. They're going to see that and automatically blame it all on what you or someone else did to the car.

 

[zeet]

It's going to come down to your dealer. If they want to play hard, they will probably deny warranty based on the other damage to the axle. If they are a 'friendly' sort of dealer they will probably ignore that and go to bat for you.

If it happened very recently, the boot can be replaced. They do not make a boot kit but there are generic boot kits, even split boots that do not require disassembling anything to install. But if it has been more than a few hundred miles since you ran over whatever you ran over, the joint is almost certainly trash and failure is not a question of 'if' but of 'when'.

If your alignment is out and a wheel is bent, you almost certainly ran over something substantial. What I am wondering more about is the $1000 in labor. I've done axles on RWD and FWD cars before and don't recall it being 6 hours of labor, more like 2 for the most complex job.

 

[Buellwinkle]

Funny, I see the axle boots available, $32 list price. Find another indy. That would be insane that they make you throw away a $850 axle for a $32 boot. Also, if that was true, go to a salvage yard and get one there. It's #8 in this diagram.

 

[acery]

thanks bullwinkle.

The dealer called me this morning after I got into work.

Ray Catena Mercedes in NJ has always been solid behind the cars they sell and they're going to cover it under warranty. I do however have to put four new tires on the vehicle. It came through with continentals which apparently wear out at 40K. I'll agree on the tires though because my wife babies her car and after looking at them closely, they were looking sad.

My car on the other hand came through with Michelins and has roughly the same mileage. The tires are still in good shape so that is what I'm having put on her car.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I know asking you as if you had a crystal ball was not going to help my case with the car as far as the warranty issue was concerned ... I just needed to vent.